What is the longest river in Europe?

The Volga is the longest river in Europe.

It rises in the Valdai Hills of western Russia and flows southward through cities including Tver, Yaroslavl, Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Samara, and Volgograd before reaching the Caspian Sea. Its length is approximately 3,690 kilometres.

The Volga is also Europe’s largest river by drainage basin and average discharge at its delta. Because it flows into the landlocked Caspian Sea, it belongs to an endorheic basin rather than draining into an ocean. This sometimes causes confusion when people compare it with rivers connected to the Atlantic or Arctic systems.

The Danube is Europe’s second-longest river, while the Dnieper and Don are also major European waterways. The Volga has played an especially important role in Russian history, trade, literature, and folklore, where it is often called “Mother Volga.”